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WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


“ There's a Divinity that shapes our ends." 


A Play for Students of Vergil 


BY 


GRANT HYDE CODE 


BOSTON 

B. J. BRIMMER COMPANY 
1923 



AUTHOR’S NOTE 


The first edition of this play, published almost ten years ago, 
was dedicated to students of Vergil. For almost ten years they 
have used the play either for collateral reading or for actual per¬ 
formance. That it has been of use to them, I infer from the 
demand for it that persisted even after it was out of print and that 
justified this republication. 

In preparing the work of my schoolboy days for reappearance, 
I have tried chiefly to make the new text more serviceable than 
the old to those students who wish to bring alive in action and 
in word the hero of Vergil’s Aeneid and his associates, and to 
teachers who accept the play as a means of making their pupils 
realize that there is flesh and blood in the Aeneid as well as 
grammar and syntax. 

To this end I have added stage directions and suggestions for 
staging and have revised the text thoroughly. But I have tried 
at the same time to keep the spirit of’the style in which the play 
was written. It remains a schoolboy’s work. That, I believe, 
has been part of its interest and its value. 

The play does not demand costly staging. It can be played 
in the class-room without even the setting of music and costume. 
On the other hand it can make use of all the arts of the theater. 
The notes I have tried to make flexible enough to be of use in the 
simplest as well as the most elaborate production, and broad 
enough to be of service in staging other plays of classical setting. 


5 



DRAMATIS PERSONAE 


Aeneas, the Trojan leader. 
Ilionees, his friend. 

Anchises, his father. 

Achates, his armor-bearer. 
Pluto, King of Hades. 
Rhadamanthus j 
Minos > Judges. 

Aeachus ) 

Dido, Queen of Carthage. 

Anna, her sister. 

Barca, her nurse. 

Persephone, Queen of Hades. 
Clotho ) 

Lachesis > The Parcae or Fates. 
Atropos ) 

Chorus of Shades (20 to 30 ). 


ALLEGORICAL AND DECORATIVE SUPERNUMERARIES 
Scribes, Torchbearers, Guards, Eumenides, Night, Sleep, 
Dreams, Death, Pages 



WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


Time. One hundred years after the death of Aeneas. 

Place. The Judgment Hall of Hades. 

The judgment hall of the underworld is a vast, subterranean 
cavern, hewn from solid rock in such a way that between the 
heavy columns rough walls appear and formless masses of rock 
are visible in the gloom. At the left, through an opening in the 
walls, a reflection from the river of fire glows fitfully, now red, 
now sulphurous yellow, now obscured by clouds of drifting 
smoke that cast fantastic shadows. At the back of the stage, 
center, a flight of steps leads to a rough archway flanked by 
columns, between which a blue, supernatural light falls into the 
dimmer, violet twilight of the hall. Through this opening one 
sees a vista of the Garden of Persephone, a formal garden steeped 
in midnight blue. At the right of the hall, near the mouth of a 
rock-walled passage that leads from the upper world, stand two 
curule chairs of ivory and gold, the thrones of Pluto and Perse¬ 
phone, raised two or three steps above the level of the floor. 
Opposite, down left, three similar chairs are placed for the Judges 
and Kings, Rhadamanthus, Minos and Aeachus. 

Pluto, attended by an armed guard, is discovered seated on his 
throne. Head in hand, he dreams, while a murmuring host of 
shades move about the hall in the solemn figures of a Greek 
dance. Their robes are grey, and their faces are grey and indis¬ 
tinguishable. The air, full of a sad music played by unseen 
musicians, suddenly rings with a chant, sung in chorus by the 
shades. 

Chorus. [Adapted to music of Gluck’s Orpheus, Act II, No. 16 . 
(“ Quels chants doux.”)] 

Rhadamanthus and Aeachus and great Minos, 

Sons of Zeus and monarchs of the Cretan isle, 

7 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


[Act I 


Sitting herein stern tribunal through the ages, 

Throned in Pluto’s Stygian hall of doom and trial — 

Woe, ah, woe ! -— 

Hear the pleas of shadows kneeling, asking mercy, 

Seeking entrance to the bright Elysian meadows ; 

Hear the voices of unhappy shadows pleading ; 

Hear the pleading of the sad and wretched shadows. 

Woe, ah, woe ! 

Only justice reigns in Hades, reigns forever ; 

No compassion dwells beyond the Stygian river : 

Woe, ah, woe ! 

Here the miserable sinner is not granted 
Absolution for his long repented error ; 

Only happy souls whose lives on earth were virtue 
Can escape the doom of Hades and the terror : 

Woe, ah, woe ! 

Only justice reigns in Hades, reigns forever. 

No compassion dwells beyond the Stygian river : 

Woe, ah, woe ! 

Pluto [who has been roused by the chant, rises and addresses the 
shades. His speech is a recitative accompanied by a subdued 
chorus of “ Woe, ah, woe ” chanted to the music of the preceding 
chorus ]. 

Shades of the damned, are ye glad that ye sing in my Stygian 
kingdom ? 

Sing in the realm of the shades, allotted to me for all ages, 

Here where I wield my iron power over spirits of Hades, 

Sharing my ebony throne with Persephone, daughter of Ceres, 
Queen of the moon and the Furies, and worshiped at night at the 
cross-roads. 

Here within walls adamantine, ye wander, sad legions of spirits, 
Through sad Persephone’s garden, whose dim and indefinite mazes 
Are edged by funereal pines, and shivering aspens and myrtle ; 
Deep in the gulf below, do the giants in Tartarus sing ? 

Ay, does Salmoneus sing ? he who dared imitate Jupiter ? 


Scene I] 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


9 


Hence, now, ye murmuring shades ! depart till our high court 
is open. 

Then shall ye plead for your lives and seek to find mercy in Hades. 

[During this speech most of the shades have gradually moved out of 
the hall, some passing up the flight of steps to the garden , where they 
can he seen moving to and fro. At the command “ Hence ! ” the 
guards begin to clear the hall of the rest, who depart, protesting. As 
the last of them disappear, Dido and Anna enter from the garden, 
pause a moment at the head of the steps, and then Anna takes Dido’s 
hand and leads her down into the hall. There they are confronted 
by guards, and Anna shrinks back, terrified, but Dido draws her¬ 
self up proudly and disdainfully so that they hesitate to touch her, 
and leave her standing in the center of the hall with Anna cringing 
behind her.] 

[Pluto, descending from his throne, meets Dido face to face. He 
starts angrily, then, recognizing her, bows in ironical respect, and 
strides from the hall (Exit L2E) laughing sardonically. Alone, 
Dido loses something of her strength and dignity. She falters to the 
foot of the throne of Pluto and sinks down on the step, turning to 
Anna for comfort and support.] 

Dido (R). Anna, my sister, why hast thou brought me here 
to this grim judgment hall, where these ghastly shapes put me 
constantly in mind of my wretched fate ? 

Anna ( RC ). Ah, poor Elissa, why should I bring thee here 
but to confront the shadow of the Trojan who is the author of all 
thy misery? 

Dido. [Springing to her feet and supporting herself with one 
hand on the throne of Pluto.] What, is Aeneas really come ? 

Anna. [Approaching and speaking eagerly.] I was informed 
by a true messenger, who saw him among the crowd of spirits 
just landed from old Charon’s bark, clad in the shadow of the 
selfsame mail he wore in Carthage, girt with a ghostly sword. 

Dido. [Steps down from the throne, places her hands on Anna’s 
shoulders and gazes earnestly into her face, turns suddenly and 
gazes off and up right as if to try to distinguish the shade of Aeneas 


10 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


[Act I 


in the distance, turns and paces left nervously, hut is confronted by 
the sight of the Phlegethon from which she shrinks , covering her eyes. 
Slowly and weakly she moves center and then summoning strength, 
lifts her hands to the Gods.] Oh, ye immortal gods, if there be any 
whose ears distinguish from Olympian heights these accents of a 
soul enthralled in Hades, I thank ye now that ye have sent to me 
that wretch. He won my love, my soul, my life, and with them 
Tyrian wealth and power ; and then, weary of the too easy con¬ 
quest, set sail upon the ocean winged with white, seeking another 
kingdom and a Latin bride. Often have I stood upon the shores 
of that dark, sluggish stream, over whose water in a phantom 
skiff the souls of dead men come. Long have I waited till he 
should appear to plead his cause in Pluto’s awful court, and now 
he comes, at last! 

Anna. [Approaching her.] Yes, at last! His father, An- 
chises, has come with Ilioneus from the Elysian fields, to wel¬ 
come him and to escort him to eternal bliss when he shall have 
passed this Stygian court. [The last words are spoken insinu¬ 
atingly.] 

Dido. Never shall false Aeneas be released from the keen 
torment which awaits him here. [£7ie leads Anna left and stands 
silent a moment, her face bathed in the glow from Phlegethon. 
When she turns to speak to Anna again there is an expression of 
exultation on her face.] Does he believe that he shall escape the 
punishment which Pluto has allotted to faithless lovers ? Faith¬ 
less, said I ? Yes, and those who love too well, pouring the milk 
and honey of their souls in mad libation to the heartless god who 
pierces human hearts with dart# of gold. 

[Dido is overcome with emotion, and in the pause Barca, blind 
and feeling her way with a staff, appears in the entrance to the hall 
from the garden.] 

Barca ( Up C). Dido ! Elissa ! What, my fair Phoenician, 
doest thou not hear old Barca ? Hark ! [She stands listening.] 

Anna (Left C). There stands the soul of true fidelity. Faith¬ 
ful to you in life, when you were gone, she then served me, be- 


Scene I] WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


11 


cause I had been dear to you. Though she grew old and blind, 
until she died she always waited on my every need and carried 
out each wish before I voiced it. Come hither, Barca. [Goes 
up the steps and leads Barca down to Dido.] Here is Phoenician 
Dido, whom thou seekest. 

Dido (L). [Embracing, Barca.] Barca ! 

Barca ( LC ). Ah, my beloved mistress, often have I longed 
to bear the music of thy sweet voice ringing through some cool 
Elysian glade. When will dark Pluto release thee from this 
place ? 

Dido. When the cruel wheel of Ixion rolls no more, Tantalus 
drinks, the greedy vulture ceases to feed upon the giant Tityus ! 
For passion’s moment of forgetfulness I suffer here through an 
eternity. Had I remained true to the dead Sychaeus, remember¬ 
ing my former high resolve never to wed again, I should have 
joined the noble shadows of the blessed dead. The wooing of the 
Trojan warrior, false as his ancestor Laomedon, stifled the mem¬ 
ory of my elder lord. Mine was the choice, now mine the penalty. 

Anna ( C ). Regrets are weak ; your strength is in revenge. 

Dido. Revenge ! Hope of the damned, the desperate, yes, 
that remains. [To Barca] Aeneas comes to-day to plead his 
cause before this three-fold judgment seat, and I, the queen whose 
love he once despised, become his Nemesis, await his trial to 
seal his condemnation. 

Anna. [Who has been gazing off left, turns to Dido.] He is 
here. I see the glinting of his shadowy mail. 

[Enter RlE Aeneas followed by Achates bearing a spear.] 

Aeneas ( RC ). This is the judgment hall, Achates, where I 
must pause awhile, until the three sages shall review my life and 
give me passports to the western islands. 

Dido [crossing to RC]. Ay, here thou must pause ! [Anna 
covers this cross by crossing left to join Barca. ] 

Aeneas. What! Dido, is it thou ? So we meet thus when 
weary years have passed ! Dost thou remember, Dido, when we 
stood together on the walls of lofty Carthage, and watched the 


12 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


[Act I 


setting sun with magic art gild the temple that we built together ? 
Then the gods summoned, Mercury bore the word, and I, obedi¬ 
ent to my destiny, quit friendly Carthage for the hostile sea and 
spread my sails before the winds of fate. 

Dido. Dost thou suppose I have forgot thy treacherous de¬ 
parture, thou perjured son of false Laomedon ? Heart I have 
none, but all thy treachery is graven on the stone within my 
breast. Do not think thou canst beguile me with that story of 
thy summons by the gods, or win forgiveness with thy smooth 
discourse. 

Aeneas. Still cherishing these bitter thoughts against me ? 
I should have thought thy long association with wisdom in the 
hall where it resides would have shown thee the injustice of these 
charges of thine and changed this bitter hatred which thou 
bearest me. 

Dido. A manly jibe ! An heroic taunt indeed ! So my im¬ 
prisonment has become thy sport! My failure to attain the 
Elysian Fields a jest on which to sharpen Trojan wits! 

Aeneas. Thou art unjust. I did not mean to mock thee. 

Dido. Then thou must be so practiced in the art of mockery 
that bitter jibes flow off thy tongue without thy bidding. [Turns 
and crosses left to Anna and Barca.] 

Aeneas. [To Achates.] Verily there is no reasoning with a 
woman. 

Achates ( R ). True, my lord. Who reasons with a woman wastes 
his logic. 

[Anchizes and Ilioneus appear in the garden, enter the hall, 
perceive Aeneas and Achates, descend the steps, and come down 
stage center.] 

Anchises (C). [Embracing Aeneas.] My son Aeneas, hast 
thou come at last, thy long vigil ended ? 

Aeneas ( RC ). [Kneeling.] Yes, father, I have come. My 
work on earth is finished, my dread probation over, and now I 
claim thy blessing. 

Anchises. A threefold blessing rest upon thee : that of thy 


Scene I] 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


13 


father, whom thou didst rescue from the flames of Troy ; that of 
thy grateful household gods exalted ; and, last of all, the blessing 
of the ages who shall thank thee for the legacy bequeathed them 
in the undying glory of the Romans, who shall be the first to 
establish government on the basis of law and justice for all men. 

[As Aeneas rises , Ilioneus steps forward and Anchises turns up 
LC, glancing at Dido who is whispering with Anna and Barca, 
and then turning back to listen to Aeneas, who has taken center stage.] 

Ilioneus (LC). My long-expected leader, I salute thee. Why 
hast thou tarried in the world above ? Thy son, Ascanius, has 
been long with us ; so have many others of thy line. 

Aeneas (C). For an offence to the inflexible gods my shade has 
roved the earth a hundred years. Though I had served divinity 
all my life, in death I gave offence, and suffered therefor. The 
gods are jealous and demand certain burial rites : a prayer recited 
and a handful of earth sprinkled on the dead body. A handful 
of earth ! It is a little thing, and yet for want of it I have roved 
the earth a hundred years. Earth and a prayer, a little ceremony, 
but great in the acknowledgment of the gods hidden in the act. 
Earth and p, prayer. The gods are jealous even of little honors. 
So for the lack of burial after death, I have been banished from 
the blessed fields, once seen, deserved, but never yet attained. 

' Achates (RC). Too great a forfeit for a small offence. 

Aeneas. There , are no small offences. All are great. There 
is but one sin, to offend the gods. 

Ilioneus. How did Aeneas lack for burial rites ? 

Aeneas. In a battle with the Rutulians I fought, and, wounded 
sore, was pressed back to the bank of the swift-flowing Numicus. 
A bold Rutulian chief with bloody sword upheaved cut through 
my guard. I fell reeling into the flood. My brave Achates, 
here, avenged my death. Then, turning to the river, he breathed 
a prayer and plunged in after me. The current bore our bodies 
out to sea, where they now lie in coral sepulchres. Our souls 
together have roamed the world until this time. 

Ilioneus. Thou art a true son of old Troy, my brave Achates. 


14 WHEN THE FATES DECREE [Act I 

Achates. I have done nothing. I simply followed where my 
master went and did his bidding. 

Ilioneus. That shall be thine epitaph throughout the ages, 
and men may do far worse than follow thee. 

Dido. [To Anna.] How slow the moments crawl along ! 
When will the judges come ? That fellow’s babbling stings my 
ears ; I cannot bear it. [March music is heard. Orpheus, Act 
III, No. 34. Ballet.] 

Anna. Patience, my sister. See, they are approaching. 

[Aeneas and his friends cross up R and look off C into the gar¬ 
den. The chorus of shades enters R2E, L2E, and C filling the hall. 
Guards appear at the top of the flight of steps and the shades separate 
left and right. The guards descend into the hall and station them¬ 
selves near the thrones. They are followed by scribes, torchbearers, 
Rhadamanthus, Minos, and Aeachus, who ascend the steps to their 
thrones and remain standing. Then Pluto and Persephone enter, 
attended by the Eumenides, Sleep, Night, Dreams, Death, and 
boy slaves bearing the helmet of the Cyclops and the crown of 
Persephone. Pluto and Persephone ascend their thrones, pause 
until their attendants are in their appointed places, and then sit. 
When they are seated the Judges sit on their thrones and the scribes 
sit on the steps at their feet.] 

Pluto. Shades of the dead, welcome to Pluto’s realm. Acheron 
lies behind. Life lies behind, and all the struggles of the upper 
world. For some of you, Elysian meadows lie beyond my gates, 
fairer than earthly fields where Ceres’ daughter culled enchanted 
flowers. For some of you, barred from these happy lands by the 
hostility of other gods, the shadowy garden of Persephone, 
meadows of asphodel and willow groves, black-crested hemlocks, 
pines, and windy poplars shall counterfeit the gardens of the 
blest. Others, distinguished by their crimes, shall find suitable 
entertainment, well contrived for the most trivial or most mon¬ 
strous vice. Pluto is prodigal of his entertainment. He loves 
you all and welcomes you with joy. 

Rhadamanthus. Hades has spoken. Hearken, ye restless 


Scene I] WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


15 


shades, claim your rewards of virtue or of sin. Sooner or later 
every man must stand before this court to plead, not for his life, 
not for his death — for his eternity. Ye shades, demanding 
justice, here behold wisdom and justice joined to royal power. 

Persephone. But let no sniveling shadow raise a voice to beg 
for mercy: Mercy here is none. 

Pluto. What case is first upon the books to-day ? 

Aeachus. [Reading from a scroll.] That of the Trojan warrior 
Aeneas ; he craves permission to enter the Elysian Fields. 

Pluto. Now, if the Trojan be present, let him step forward 
and stand where all the court may see him. 

[Aeneas makes his way through the crowd of spirits and comes 
down center.] 

Aeachus. Art thou Aeneas ? 

Aeneas ( C ). I am the good Aeneas. After the fall of Troy, 
my ancient home, I saved my father, my small son Ascanius, and 
the images of the Trojan Penates from the flames. A while I 
tarried, hard by Ida’s mount, where other fugitives attached 
themselves to me, until a mighty company had assembled. At 
last, when the next spring unfurled its timid flags of green, my 
father ordered us to make sail. Sadly we left the Troad far be¬ 
hind. In Thrace we first sought refuge, but fled the land ac¬ 
cursed by the murder of a kinsman. At Delos, the oracle bade 
us seek the ancient fatherland of our kinsman Dardanus, whence 
the founders of our race once came. So I bore our household 
gods over the sea in my fleet ; though plagues destroyed many of 
my comrades, though vile Harpies threatened, cruel monsters 
of the deep beset my way, and pleasant countries tempted me 
aside, still I proceeded ; even when my beloved father died, I 
left his bones in a Sicilian tomb and sought Italia. At last I 
reached the longed for shores, founded my city of Lavinium, and 
thought to find peace ; but no, some jealous god forbade, and I 
was harassed by war. My son, Ascanius, however, established 
a happier city, Alba Longa, and handed down a line of kings. 
A daughter of this race bore twin sons to Mars; one of them, 


16 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


[Act I 


great Romulus, founded the city on the seven hills where the 
Penates of my fatherland still dwell. So, having made a home 
for my conquered gods, I seek a resting place in Elysium for 
myself. 

Pluto. This is a noble story ; but, Aeneas, no man may reach 
the blessed fields until these judges have examined him. 

Rhadamanthus. Stranger, have you secured a sponsor from 
the Elysian Fields who will corroborate your story ? 

Aeneas. My father, Anchises ; he shall speak for me. 

Anchises. [Coming down RC.] I am ready to testify before 
this court that my son’s story is true, and that a hundred other 
things are true which modesty forbade him mention. 

Minos. My brother judges, though I question not the honor 
of Anchises, yet were it not better that another witness be found 
to verify the testimony that paternal love may color unwittingly ? 

Aeachus. Minos, thy words are true. 

Rhadamanthus. Father Anchises, we will hear thy testimony, 
but another must be sponsor for thy son. 

Ilioneus. [Comes down LC .] Let me then plead here for 
good Aeneas. 

Rhadamanthus. Venerable shade, what is thy name ? 

Ilioneus. Ilioneus. A Trojan, I, who followed all the wand¬ 
erings of Aeneas. I was a captain under him ; part of his fleet 
was in my command and I preserved it when the wrath of Juno 
caused it to be scattered over the sea before Aeolian winds. 

Minos. Now I remember thee. This man is a fitting person 
to pledge his faith for Aeneas. Let us accept him. 

Aeachus. I am content. 

Rhadamanthus. We will allow you to go surety for this man. 
See that thy testimony and that of all thy witnesses be true. 

Ilioneus. Perjury is foreign to the hearts of Trojans. 

Rhadamanthus. Well spoken. Now all attend ; a soul stands 
here on trial. 

Dido. [Stepping forward from the crowd of shades up left center 
and coming down left center .] Never did a soul deserve more deep 
damnation. 


Scene I] WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


17 


Ilioneus. The Carthaginian queen ! [Ilioneus retires up LC 
two paces , leaving Dido and Aeneas confronting each other.] 

Aeneas. Dido ! [He gazes at her reproachfully, hut she meets 
his gaze unfalteringly. He turns from her and walks slowly R 
with bowed head. As he raises his eyes he sees Pluto leaning 
forward and searching his face critically. Aeneas returns the look 
proudly and turns away to listen to Dido. His position now is a 
little right of RC.] 

Rhadamanthus. Who art thou, author of this accusa¬ 
tion ? 

Aeachus. A queen, one time condemned for suicide ? 

Dido. [Turning to face the judges.] I am she. Behold the sad 
and mournful spirit of Dido, once the queen of lofty Carthage. 
I dare to stand before this dreadful court and accuse this faith¬ 
less Trojan to his face ! He stole my heart with his wily tongue ; 
he inspired me first with pity, then with love. I gave both 
freely. He took all I had to offer, love and a royal welcome for 
himself, shelter and food and riches for his men. Then, tired 
of me, he left me, seeking the conquest of another heart and 
another land. 

Minos. This is a grave charge and must be carefully investi¬ 
gated. 

Ilioneus. [Stepping down again.] My lord, this woman is 
mad with hatred and a desire for revenge on someone, nay, on 
anyone, whom the venom of her tongue can reach. She was 
disappointed in her hopes of Elysium. What is more natural 
than that she should seek to disappoint him who, she says, re¬ 
jected her ? 

Anchises. [Crossing from a position beside Aeneas to a position 
beside Ilioneus apd in front of the judges. Dido covers his cross 
by drawing away from him and taking center stage.] I pray thee 
disregard this woman’s testimony. Her jealous fury makes her 
slander my son. 

Rhadamanthus. In this court no testimony may be disre¬ 
garded. All have the right to speak. It is for us to weigh the 
evidence with a steady hand and render righteous judgments. 


18 WHEN THE FATES DECREE [Act I 

Now, Dido, speak and tell thy story clearly, from the very be¬ 
ginning. 

Dido (C ). I was a princess of old Tyre until I fled that 
bloody land and built my citadel in the land of Libya and called 
it Carthage. One day a band of Trojans landed near my shores. 
They had been driven from their course by a tempest, they said ; 
their leader was lost and with him all hope of reaching Italy. 
Not acquainted with grief, I had learned to succor the unfortu¬ 
nate ; so I received them and entertained them until their leader 
came. This Trojan leader was Aeneas. It was his fleet that I 
restored. I call Ilioneus to witness, for he commanded the ships 
I rescued. Speak, chieftain ! Have I told the truth ? 

Ilioneus ( L ). Ay, Queen, thou has spoken truly, but to what 
purpose ? This does not prove thine accusation. 

Dido. Nay, be not so hasty. Thou hast admitted this, my 
generous reception of Aeneas. Thou shalt admit still more. 
Mark, Judges, how the man repaid my kindness. Even from 
the first he was false and deceiving. He thought, forsooth : 
“ Here I am, in a strange country, whose people are hostile to 
mine. How long they will tolerate my presence, I know not. 
There is danger in tarrying here, yet I would not leave this 
goodly land so soon. I will seek favor in Queen Dido’s eyes. 
Her love shall protect me.” Thus did he reason that my love 
might be his shield. For his advantage he made love to me. 
When my counselors advised against him, and my soothsayers 
foretold dire misfortunes which should come upon me and my 
city by this man’s hand, I laughed them all to scorn. He gave 
me precious gifts, saved from the treasure house of Priam ; and 
many an evening seated at the banquet I hung upon his words, 
while he recounted tales of his prowess. Thus he won me, and 
used my love while it served him. Doubtless, this was a fit 
amusement for a hero ! Then, when for his sake I had offended 
the Nomad Kings of Libya, when I had forgotten all but him, 
the business of my kingdom, my vow of deathless devotion to 
my dead Sychaeus, my womanly reserve, all, all! — then he 
deserted me basely, like a coward, said he was summoned by 


Scene I] 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


19 


the gods and must seek Italia, his destined home ! So he de¬ 
parted and left me to die by mine own hand. [Dido pauses, 
overcome ; Anna comes down LC from up LC and supports her.] 

Anna (LC). Answer now, Aeneas. Has she told the truth ? 

Aeneas ( RC). Most noble Judges, she has told a true story, 
and she has spoken most falsely. The facts are true, but the 
spirit is a fabrication, a garment of lies on a frame of truth, a 
picture well drawn, and yet with all the colors false to nature. 
It is true that she received us with great hospitality, true that I 
made her presents fitting her queenly estate, that I recited, at 
her bidding, the story of my city’s fall, that we loved, that I at 
last departed. All this is true. 

Anna. He has admitted his perfidy. What need is there of 
further testimony ? 

Aeneas. Stop ! In my admission there was nothing wrong. 
All my alleged wrongdoing lies in the motive Dido has assigned to 
me. To my every deed she has attached some dark and sinister 
motive. No deed can in itself be wrong. The motive and the 
circumstance make the crime. Because of this, no mortal can 
rightly judge the deeds of other mortals. The gods alone can 
read the hearts of men, and from them judge. When I reveal 
the true purposes which guided me, this convicting evidence will 
melt away. 

Anna. But wilt thou reveal these motives truly ? How can 
we know that thou wilt not change the evidence to suit thy need ? 

Ilioneus. Judge not! If thou are endowed with wisdom and 
insight into the purposes of men, let Rhadamanthus quit his 
place and do thou take it. 

Pluto. Silence ! Speak, Trojan, and beware of lies. 

Aeneas. Hear my true motives. I gave her gifts, for it was 
fitting that the queen who entertained my people should have 
presents suited to her rank. I told my story, but not until she 
bade me. I did not seek her love ; she gave it me without my 
asking. Tell me, when such a gift was offered by such a royal 
lady, how could any man refuse it ? 

Rhadamanthus. I grant thee, that when this lady put forth 


20 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


[Act I 


all her charms to win thee, if indeed this be true, she cannot well 
complain that thou shouldst love her. 

Dido. But it is false, great Rhadamanthus, false. With 
art and cunning did the Trojan win me. His glance was fire, 
his accents passionate, his looks, his words, and gifts all testified 
his deathless love. 

Ilioneus. Say, rather, that his glance was bold, and therefore 
different from that of the servile courtiers around thee. The 
story of the war in which his city was overthrown and so many of 
his friends were killed of course filled him with emotion. Wouldst 
thou have him tell it like a schoolboy reciting his lesson ? Canst 
thou relate the murder of Sychaeus and never let a tremor shake 
thy voice ? 

Achates. [Emerging from the crowd up right and coming down 
left before the judges.] May I speak what I know of this matter ? 

Rhadamanthus. Thy name ? 

Achates. Achates, the armor-bearer of Aeneas. 

Rhadamanthus. Speak. 

Achates. It was plain to all the court, and rumor spread the 
news through all the land that from the first night Queen Dido 
madly loved Aeneas and employed every art known to women to 
storm his heart. 

Dido. May armor-bearers then give queens the lie ? 

Rhadamanthus. Falsehood is falsehood in the lips of kings 
and truth is truth though slaves should give it words. 

Anna. Then hear the testimony of an aged slave, my sister’s 
nurse. She has just come from the Elysian Fields and her testi¬ 
mony should have weight. Step forward, Barca. 

Barca. [Led by Anna to a position in front of the judges. The 
other witnesses retire up stage.] I am sure, great Judges, that my 
mistress, Dido, was never guilty of those bold attempts to win 
the heart of that upstart Aeneas. I have been her servant ever 
since she married my master, Sychaeus. I was his old nurse 
when he was a boy in Tyre. Ah, me, what a fine lad he was ! 

Rhadamanthus. Never mind Sychaeus, good Barca. We are 
interested in Dido only. 




Scene I] 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


21 


Barca. Well, well! She was always a girl of becoming 
modesty, never bold and forward in her speech, but rather shy ; 
half afraid of her own voice, she was. Why I remember one day 
when Sychaeus — well, it is no matter. But I am sure she would 
never have been so bold as to seek openly the love of Aeneas. 

Dido. Now, ye wise ones, judge whether to believe his evi¬ 
dence or hers. Remember, Aeneas hath his happiness for all 
eternity at stake. Would it not tempt him to perjure himself, 
think you ? Consider well whether he did not break the sacred 
bonds of hospitality by seeking thus my ruin. A man who as a 
guest accepts the hospitality of another and under guise of friend¬ 
ship breaks his faith is not worthy of the Elysian Fields. 

[The judges confer. Dido, Anna and Barca confer up center. 
Aeneas crosses to right center and talks to Anchises, Ilioneus, and 
Achates .] 

Persephone. My husband, Pluto, it appeareth to me that 
this woman hath been greatly wronged by the Trojan. First, 
he hath dishonorably taken advantage of her kindness ; second, 
made love to her in sport; and thirdly, that he hath used her 
love to protect himself from his enemies at great danger to her. 

Pluto. So Dido says ; ■ but if we are to believe the story of the 
Trojan there was no dishonor in all this. 

Persephone. No dishonor ! To use her hospitality as a cloak 
to protect him from his enemies ! To make love to her that he 
and his men might be safe from the Carthaginians ! To see her 
passion rise and then laugh at it behind her back ! 

Pluto. We cannot be sure that he has done these things. 
Silence, now. Rhadamanthus is about to speak. 

Rhadamanthus. [Standing.] After a careful conference, we, 
the judges of this mighty court, do find that the evidence brought 
by the accuser is not thus far sufficient to condemn Aeneas. 
First, because it has not been proved that Aeneas did not hon¬ 
orably seek the love of Dido. On this point the evidence is not 
clear. Second, because the responsibility for the whole affair 
rests on the one who first Sought the other’s love. On this point 


22 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


[Act I 


we have evidence, it is true. However, the testimony of each 
witness directly contradicts the other. Third, the circumstances 
under which Aeneas left Carthage have not been fully explained. 
Therefore the court is not assured of the guilt of Aeneas, and 
must dismiss the case unless some further evidence is brought to 
bear. 

Anna. [Comes down center .] That evidence I bring. When 
the court has heard it, ye cannot but condemn Aeneas. Only 
a part of his perfidy has been told. If ye could have been assured 
the evidence we brought was true, ye would have admitted that 
he had been guilty of violating the hospitality shown him and 
that he had displayed gross cowardice in using a woman’s love 
to shield him from her nation’s enmity. 

Ilioneus. [Advancing before the judges .] These charges have 
been discussed and laid aside. Therefore, I must demand that 
no further reference be made to them. They stand repudiated, 
false charges breathed by the thousand tongues of impious 
Rumor. 

Rhadamanthus. The court sustains the objection of Ilioneus. 
Unless thou canst produce some further charge, I warn thee 

Anna. I can ! An unanswerable charge, that of faithlessness 
and desertion. After Dido had yielded wholly to her love, when 
she and false Aeneas had spent many days together, planning 
the future greatness of Carthage, suddenly there came a change. 
Aeneas grew cold and weary of Dido. Perhaps he had heard 
rumors of the mighty Nomad kings, headed by Iarbus, who 
constantly, threatened Dido’s power. Perhaps he feared their 
assault and longed to fly like a coward. How can I a mortal 
judge of motives ? This I know : he did refuse to hear her 
prayers ; he did desert her ; launching his fleet he did ascend 
the waves and leave poor Dido on the shore behind. Was this 
not faithlessness ? Was not this cowardice ? Judge, ye Gods 
[spoken to Pluto and Persephone ], who can read the hearts of 
men ! 

Ilioneus. Again thou art interpreting the conduct of Aeneas 
as the jealous Dido saw it. She did not understand that a higher 




Scene I] WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


23 


purpose called him away. Aeneas, the lover, would have ended 
his days in Carthage ; Aeneas, the patriot, remembered that the 
gods had committed to his care the future greatness of the Trojan 
race. He had been commanded by Apollo to seek Italia, and 
there found a city for his people. As their leader, he had to 
disregard his own personal feelings. He was not a free agent. 

Anna. Let Rhadamanthus decide what his motive was. Per¬ 
chance the son of Laomedon had merely grown tired of his Car¬ 
thaginian love. In this case, who could ask him to stay longer 
at her side ? Love is a passing dream. It is a magic spell cast 
by the moonlight. For a while it is sweet, ah, sweet! But the 
first beams of Aurora break the charm. Why do we swear eter¬ 
nal love ? Only sorrow lasts forever, and regret. 

Dido. [Stepping down, silencing with a gesture Apna, who 
falls hack up stage, and taking Anna’s place.] How could he be so 
cruel, so false, after his vows of love and deep affection ? I was 
too happy in those golden days. We were beset on every hand 
with hostile tribes. Then Aeneas came. I loved him from that 
fatal banquet night, when I reclined upon my royal couch, his 
lovely son, Ascanius, at my side, and heard him tell the story 
of old Troy. As his sweet voice told courageous deeds, I clasped 
the young child to my heart, which throbbed and swelled with 
love. “ Here is a man/’ I thought, “ fit to direct the destinies of 
my people.” Alas ! the bright mirage soon faded, and left me 
in the desert of despair. 

Ilioneus (RC ). Fit to direct the destiny of a people ! Yes, 
honor bound to do so. He was commissioned by the gods above 
to guide his exiled people to Lavinium. Canst thou not see he 
owed them all he had to give ? 

Dido (C). In Carthage then they could have found a home. 
[Crosses Ilioneus and directs her speech to the judges.] I offered 
it to them. They would have stayed gladly, but he was eager 
to desert me. When I urged him not to be so mad as to put to 
sea in the winter time, only to wait till spring and then depart, 
even then he would not stay. Was this consideration for his 
people ? No, it was hate for me. 


24 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


[Act I 


Aeneas. [Takes center stage.] Thou askest why I did not let 
my people settle in Carthage ? I will tell thee. The Fates had 
decreed another destiny for the Trojans. The gods had foretold 
a city on the Tiber, a city of glistening temples crowning seven 
hills. It shall become the ruler of a great world empire. The 
garden lands of Egypt and Assyria shall be its tributaries. Proud 
Greece shall bow before it. The Trojan blood shall be exalted in 
the blood of Caesars. Yes ! Such shall Rome be. The gods have 
dreamed, and gods have power to make their dreams come true. 
I was the agent whom they chose, and could but obey. So, 
though, I loved the queen of Carthage, that love could never be 
allowed to thwart the purpose of almighty Jove. Therefore 
he dispatched Mercury from the Heavens to warn me not to 
tarry longer, but to seek Italia with the winds. Ah, then my 
heart was torn with cruel emotions. Duty summoned me away, 
though love for thee was raging in my heart. Didst thou call 
me cold ? Say rather that I locked a seething furnace of love 
in a chill tomb of obedience to the gods. Didst thou say I would 
not hear thy prayers ? If I had listened to them, Dido, all 
Neptune’s flood could not have quenched my ardor, nor Hercules 
dragged me from the coast of Libya. 

Dido. If thou hadst truly loved me, nothing could have torn 
thee from my side. 

Aeneas. The gods are jealous, and no man dare place an 
earthly love above their will. 

Dido. The gods are cruel. They inflame the hearts of men 
with strange passions ; they make them act insanely, to no pur¬ 
pose. 

Aeneas. Nothing in life is quite without a reason. We are 
all pawns in a game the gods are playing, for high stakes, unknown 
to us. No tiny action is without its purpose. No life is lived 
or lost wholly in vain. 

Dido. Then wherefore did I leave Phoenicia and build my 
city in the desert ? 

Aeneas. Thy city shall be a round in the tall ladder by which 
Rome shall climb to greatness. 


Scene I] 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


25 


Dido. Thou cowardly knave ! Dost thou presume to tell 
me that my city will be but a heap of stones and dust upon which 
thy cruel city may set its foot and raise its standard higher ? 
Darest thou insult me thus, here in this solemn court, before these 
stern judges ? Hast thou not wronged me enough ? So, 
mocker, I must be humiliated before all Pluto’s court ? 

Aeneas. Forgive me, Dido ; I spoke in thoughtless haste. 

Dido. At last the words have passed thy lips : “ Forgive me.” 
Why, thou self-righteous man, what have I to forgive ? Thou 
hast obeyed the bidding of the gods ! What wrong canst thou 
have committed ! Apollo has but touched thy lips with fire 
and thou has deigned to prophesy for me. — Nay, thou mockest 
me still. Oh, Anna, Anna ! I can bear no more ! The false 
one ! Oh, the coward ! 

Anna (LC). [To the right of Dido and supporting her.] Surely 
thou canst think of some new reproach with which to chide the 
queen. Thou art not satisfied ! 

Aeneas ( C ). And in this court I thought to find justice, here 
where false accusations follow me continually. 

Dido. [Turning wildly, Dido crosses to Persephone and falls 
on the steps at her feet.] Thou art a woman, and perchance thou 
canst pity a desolate sister scorned by men. If thou hast ever 
been an exile from thy sweet home, pity me. If thou hast ever 
known the desolation and loneliness of a strange land, pity me. 
If thou hast ever had all that was dear to thee snatched away 
by the cruel whim of man, pity me. By thy good mother Ceres, 
I beseech thee to have pity upon a daughter of the earth. By 
thy triple domain, I beseech thee to have pity upon a queen 
brought low. By thy stern husband, I beseech thee to mete out 
vengeance on this man. 

Persephone. My royal Pluto, where is the unforgiving justice 
which thou boastest ? Has thy heart been moulded like clay 
by this sculptor of hearts ? Let a swift punishment overtake 
this boaster who glories in the favor of the gods. If he escapes, 
thy court will be the laughing stock of all Olympus. 

Pluto. By all the Furies, that shall never be. Presumptuous 


26 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


[Act I 


Trojan, thou shalt mock my power no longer. Thou hast made 
a jest of the heart of a woman. Thou hast laughed at the decrees 
of my court. Perchance thou wilt not appreciate the humor 
of a bath in the Phlegethon. I have not quite lost my merry wit. 
Before thou shalt leave this company, I will propound to thee a 
jest at which the whole assembly shall laugh, but, methinks, it 
will not seem so witty to thee. Ho, Judges, what is your verdict 
in this case ? 

Aeneas. Is there no justice in the universe, for living or for 
dead ? 

Anna (LC ). Now plead for thy life, thou false one. The 
gods thou didst obey shall protect thee now, O goddess-born ! 

Achates. [Crossing R to Pluto.] Thou tyrant! Had I a 
band of Trojans at my back, I would depose thee from thy ebon 
throne ! [Ilioneus drags him back.] 

Anna (LC). Thou art vindicated now, my beloved mistress ! 
Away with false Aeneas ! 

Barca ( L). [To Anna.] And will they condemn Aeneas now 
because he loved Dido ? Nay, that’s a pity. He’s but a bar¬ 
barian lad. And all the lords of Tyre loved Dido. The virtues 
of gentlemen should not be called sins in a barbarian. He is a 
good lad. 

Anchises (LC). I pray you, royal Judges, stain not your repu¬ 
tation for justice by the condemnation of my son ! 

Dido (R). [Rising and speaking to Persephone.] My purpose 
is accomplished. I should rejoice. And yet — and yet — 

Pluto. Proud Trojan, now prepare to hear the verdict. 

Rhadamanthus. [Rising.] Aeneas, descendant of Laomedon, 
son of Anchises — [Music is heard off right.] 

Pluto. [Rising.] Silence! [The court rises.] Silence all! I 
hear strange voices without the very door of this, our judgment 
hall! 

The Fates. [Off stage Right. Music : Orpheus , Act 7, No. 10, 
“ Quel est I’audacieux.”] 

Unlock the ebon gate, 

Fling back the portal wide. 


Scene I] WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


27 


Time passes. Time and fate 
Cannot delay or bide. 

Unlock the gate. 

The will of gods and men 
To our will bows the knee. 

Phoebus himself stops when 
The Fates decree. 

Pluto. Room for the Fates. Behold the Fates ! 

All. The Fates ! The Fates ! 

[The Fates enter R1E and take -position center stage. Pluto, 
Persephone, and the Judges remain standing. The others 
Jcyio&I ] 

The Fates. [Music: Orpheus , Act II, No. 21, “ Cet asile 
aimable.”] 

Out of the infinite spaces of shadow, 

Twilight, the birthplace of fate and the home, 
Drearier waste than Plutonian meadow, 

Aged but deathless, the Parcae have come, 

Grim and immutable, 

Silent, inscrutable, 

Potent as gods, but more deaf to entreaty, 

No altars rise to us, 

None sacrifice to us, 

Prayers nor tears can awaken our pity. 

Fortune is kind to the heroes we cherish ’, 

Fame their reward when they lie in their graves. 
Cities arise at our bidding or perish ; 

Gods are our subjects and kings are our slaves. 
Weavers of destiny. 

Wardens of mystery, 

Authors of peace as of tumults and wars. 

Sages Ionian, 

Seers Babylonian 

Search our decrees in oracular stars. 


28 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


[Act I 


Clotho. [This speech and the two following are spoken, not 
sung , hut the music continues softly.] 

My distaff incessantly twirling, 

With flaxen destinies wreathed, 

Has been turning and spinning and turning 
Since the spirit of life was first breathed. 

Through my fingers the lives of all mortals 
Pass slowly, are fashioned with care ; 

Before they can enter the portals 
Of life, is their story writ there. 

Lachesis. To me is given the weighty care 
Of fitting each life into place 
In the great fabric we prepare. 

I study well each mortal’s case. 

Sometimes a sinewy fibre strong 
Is needed in our mighty plan. 

I measure one both stout and long : 

A woman brave, or stalwart man. 

Atropos. Once in the life of every man I come. 

Not with the trumpet’s blare and beat of drum, 

But like a voice that calls him through the night. 
And if he hear that summons soon or late 
He bows to the inexorable Fate, 

And turns his back upon the joyous light. 

Each mortal has his destined work to do, 

Each one his little course to journey through, 
Amassing riches transient as a breath. 

Though he attain some pinnacle sublime, 

I cut his life-thread at the destined time ; 

Then stunned he turns from life and faces 
[She cuts a length from the end of the yarn and lets it float to the 
floor.] death ! [A pause.] 

Pluto. Ye weavers of destiny, why have ye come to my 
kingdom ? Ye fashion lives and have naught to do with dead 
men’s souls. 

Clotho. The destinies of mortals have been swayed by beauty 


Scene I] 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


29 


many times ; now the sad Fates in answer to the prayers of 
beauty in a goddess have journeyed even to the underworld 
before these judges to relate a tale. The golden Aphrodite from 
on high beheld her son, Aeneas, pleading here. She heard their 
accusations, his defence. She saw the judges’ hearts congealed 
to stone, and knew that for the lack of this true story, which we 
alone, the Fates, could fully tell, her son would be condemned 
and Dido triumph. So now at her request we stand before you 
to justify the conduct of the Trojan. 

Pluto. Depart and say to Venus that she does ill to interfere 
in my realm. We have adjudged him guilty. We have found 
Aeneas wanting in manly virtue. 

Lachesis. And there ye judge him wrongly as I shall show. 
When he was shipwrecked on the Libyan shore through Juno’s 
wrath, and when the Queen of Carthage received him in her city, 
Venus feared the hostile race might work some harm upon him. 
Therefore she snatched Ascanius away, putting her own son, 
Cupid, in his place. The child of love, well versed in cunning 
wiles, remembering the counsels of his mother, plotted to make 
Queen Dido love Aeneas, so that her love might shield him well 
against the Carthaginians, who worship Juno. 

Atropos. So at the banquet on that fatal night, young Love, 
parading as Ascanius, concealed a golden dart beneath his robe. 
Then, when Queen Dido called him to her side, he slyly pricked 
her bosom and instilled his love-begetting poison through her 
veins. Then, as the magic power filled her heart, a mad, un¬ 
reasoning love for bold Aeneas laid hold upon her. It wrought 
all the woes of which she now accuses this faultless man. 

Pluto. Clearly we have been hasty in our judgment. The 
clashing evidence and varying motives in this case would have 
confused our brother Jove himself. The Fates alone can give 
a just decree. 

Dido (R). Is this the truth ? 

Lachesis. It is and more besides, for Juno then, thinking to 
change Aeneas’ destiny, arranged with Venus, who perceived her 
guile, that these two should be joined in marriage bond. Venus 


30 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


[Act I 


at last appealed to mighty Jove, who sent his messenger to sum¬ 
mon Aeneas to fulfill his destiny. Not until then, Aeneas sailed 
away, obedient to the mandates of the gods. 

Clotho. Few men indeed would have been strong enough to 
sacrifice a present happiness to obtain a future blessing for his 
race, leaving his love because the Fates decreed. [The Fates 
move up center and take position at the top of the flight of steps 
in the entrance to the garden. The light behind them changes 
from blue to gold, giving the garden the aspect of the Elysian 
Fields.] 

Dido. [Crossing to Aeneas, who crosses to meet her center .] I 
will not ask thee to forgive, Aeneas. Thou hast suffered wrong 
past all forgiveness. Only permit me to express my sorrow. I 
have been made a sport of by the gods, and, in my madness, done 
— I know not what. 

Aeneas. Thou hast not harmed me, Dido. All thy rage has 
only served to make thee unhappy. I pardon fully thine attempt 
to injure. Thou didst not know the truth. 

Rhadamanthus. Aeneas, thou art free to leave this place and 
enter the Elysian Fields when thou so desirest. Dido, thou too 
mayst enter the gardens of the blessed, for it has been shown that 
all thou didst was done either in ignorance of the truth or else in 
madness. 

The Fates. [Music: Orpheus, Act II, No. 27 “ J’ai perdu 
mon Euridice.”] 

Now our mission here is ended, 

For Aeneas’ plight is mended. 

Safely past the court infernal 
He may enter realms eternal 
By the Fates’ decree. 

Gods and mortals in a chorus 
In submission kneel before us. 

When we speak without delaying 
All must hasten in obeying 
What the Fates decree. 

Chorus. Gods and mortals in a chorus 


Scene I] 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


31 


When the Parcae stand before us 
Bow on bended knee obeying 
Their command without delaying 
When the Fates Decree. 

CURTAIN 







NOTES FOR STAGING 


These notes are particularly adapted to “ When the Fates 
Decree ” but are intended to be generally useful in school pro¬ 
ductions of plays with classic settings. 

GENERAL NOTES ON STAGING 

One of the reasons, perhaps, for the disfavor with which school 
authorities sometimes look upon the production of plays by pupils 
is that the burden of the actual work of production is likely to 
fall too heavily on the hands of a coach, usually a teacher already 
busy enough. This difficulty can be avoided if a stage force is 
chosen and organized as carefully and thoroughly as the cast of 
actors. 

The coach should attempt no more than the work of coaching, 
general direction, and advising. The actual work of staging 
should be left as much as possible to pupils. Thus the work will 
be distributed and made easy and a larger number of pupils can 
feel that they have a share in the production. 

The members of such an executive force and their respective 
duties are indicated below : 

A prompter, the immediate assistant of the coach. 

A stage manager, holding a position subordinate to the coach 
but in charge of the executive force. Under the manager are the 
pupils in charge of scenery, properties, costumes, lights, makeup 
and scene shifting. 

A property manager and assistant, or assistants ; their duties 
are to collect and manufacture properties and to see that they are 
on stage at the proper time. 


32 



WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


33 


A stage carpenter and assistants to get scenery into condition 
under the immediate direction of the stage manager. 

An electrician and assistant, to devise and manufacture light¬ 
ing devices, get them into condition for the performance, and 
take charge of them during performance. 

A costume manager and assistants, to give general directions 
and instructions regarding the making of costumes, to see that 
they are made according to the design and color specified, and 
that they are ready for use in good time. In this play the 
materials might well be bought wholesale, measured, cut, dyed 
and handed out under the direction of the costume manager. 
Each principal in the cast should be made responsible for the 
making of his own costume, and the force at the disposal of the 
costume manager should devote most of their energies to making 
the togas and peploi, which have to be produced in comparatively 
large quantities all of a kind. 

A makeup artist and assistants, unless the services of a pro¬ 
fessional are to be had. On the night of the performance there 
should be at least four makeup artists at work if the chorus and 
decorative characters are to be made up. One artist should 
work with the women principals, one with the men principals, 
and two with the chorus. It should be the preliminary task of 
the principal makeup artist to see that the necessary paints, 
powders, etc., are on hand and that his assistants are practiced 
in their art and know just how each of the characters they are 
to make up is to look. The makeup force also has charge of the 
selection or manufacture of wigs. 

A business manager should be in charge of such advertising, 
printing, and distribution of tickets as is to be done. 

A great deal depends upon the ability of the stage manager to 
keep the whole organization running smoothly under the direc¬ 
tion of the coach ; a great deal also depends on the executive 
ability of each chief of a department and each worker. The 
production of a play should be a lesson in organization, coopera¬ 
tion, responsibility, and faithful work in a business organization 
to every member of the company. Different departments of the 


34 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


organization can, of course, receive valuable suggestions from 
members of various departments of the school : classic, domestic 
science, and manual training especially. The play should be if 
possible a school affair, rather than the activity of a class or de¬ 
partment. If the production is to be at all elaborate, it must 
be a school affair. 

MUSIC 

A competent musician should be in charge of the arrangement of 
music, and training of soloists and choruses. Gluck’s “Orpheus”, 
to music from which the songs are adapted, is universally avail¬ 
able ; but the numbers are marked differently in various 
edition and the first few words of each song are therefore 
printed. The opening chorus was in the original production 
presented as a recitative against a choral background. This 
arrangement was difficult so that I have rewritten the lyric to be 
sung as a chorus to the music that becomes the choral background 
of Pluto’s opening speech. This music might be used even in a 
small production in class, the pupils acting as chorus and learning 
the music for the occasion. The lyric “ Out of the Infinite 
Spaces of Shadow ” is printed here for, the first time. The other 
lyrics have been changed very slightly to adapt them better 
to the music to which they were originally sung. The list of 
references follows : 

Opening chorus : “ Rhadamanthus and Aeachus.” 

Orpheus II, 16 : “ Quels Chants Doux.” 

Recitative : “Shades of the Damned are •Ye Glad.” 

Orpheus II, 16 : “Quels Chants Doux.” 

Entrance of the court : March. 

Orpheus III, 34 : Ballet. 

Trio : “ Unlock the Ebon Gate.” 

Orpheus I, 10 : “Quel est l’Audacieux.” 

Trio : “ Out of the Infinite Spaces of Shadow.” 

Orpheus II, 21 : “ Cet Asile Aimable.” 

Finale : “ Now our Mission Here is Ended.” 

Orpheus II, 27 : “ J’ai Perdu mon Euridice.” 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


35 


DANCING 

For an elaborate production, the chorus should be drilled as a 
ballet as well as a choir. Except in the beginning of the play 
their movements should be subordinated to the action and they 
should become a flexible part of the setting. In the beginning 
of the play, the chorus is, of course, an integral part of the action. 
If desired, the allegorical and decorative figures suggested as 
attendant on Pluto for the court scene could be used as principal 
dancers in an introductory ballet. 

SCENERY 

The stage directions call for an underground palace hewn from 
rough rock, open at the back upon a formal garden. If the play 
is produced in a professional theatre with stock scenery, a prison 
set, almost sure to be available, will make a better hall than the 
conventional palace set, and a woodland or garden backdrop is 
usually available on any stage. Small platforms for thrones, 
will usually be available. In school performances, the platforms 
on which teachers’ desks often stand would serve. The platform 
and steps at the back of the stage are not essential and are likely 
to be cumbersome on a small stage, but if they are available they 
should be used, because the vertical movement up and down 
steps makes an effective variety of action, breaking the constant 
shuttle movement always on the same level. In a regular 
theatre rocks are usually available. Pushed into corners and 
against walls they will give the rough, irregular effect that is 
desired. In school performances a dark cloth thrown over two 
or three boxes or an overturned chair makes a good rock. The 
thrones should preferably be curule chairs, painted cream white 
with enamel paint to represent ivory and decorated with gilt 
paint. They are simple in design, a modification of the pattern 
of the familiar saw horse, with figure s legs, not straight ones. A 
little work with the scroll saw on two inch lumber and a little 
morticing form the framework of such a chair. If curule chairs 
cannot be secured, simple benches should be used ; nothing 
resembling medieval or modern thrones. 


36 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


If the play is produced on a school stage, it will be most effec¬ 
tive in a draped set, and the draped set is so beautiful and so 
generally useful, withal so inexpensive, that the opportunity 
to make such a set for the play should not be passed over hur¬ 
riedly. The material should be outing flannel, which, though 
cheap, has a soft, rich appearance on the stage. Three sets of 
curtains should be made : those next to the proscenium dull 
green ; the next set dull blue ; the last set dull lavender. The 
curtains should be hung by sliding rings on rods of gas pipe the 
width of the stage. They should all be wide enough to draw 
completely across the stage upon occasion, but each set should 
be a little broader than the one in front of it, since when the 
full stage is used the first set will be drawn widest open, the next 
set next widest, and the last set, which should leave a space be¬ 
hind it, least wide, or perhaps closed altogether. With a plain 
white drop at the back to take colored lights, the draped set can 
be made to represent almost any scene with a change in the 
arrangement of curtains and lights and in the solid properties 
used. The curtain set gives a much greater effect of reality 
than the flat set and at the same time is a more graceful and sub¬ 
dued background. For this play it is ideal. I suggest the flat, 
plain drop for a background instead of a cyclorama because, 
although a cheap cloth cyclorama can be made that it is very 
effective, it is cumbersome on a small stage and somewhat 
costly. However, information concerning a cycloramic cone 
well adapted to the small stage can be obtained from Rollo 
Wayne, The “ 47 ” Workshop, Harvard College, Cambridge, 
Massachusetts. 

For this play, the only heavy solid properties absolutely needed 
are the thrones. The possible construction of rocks has been 
indicated, and the construction of the platforms is obvious. 
The only other solids desirable would be a few large columns, 
which can be constructed on a foundation of chicken wire rolled 
into tubes, braced with wooden cross pieces at the bottom and 
covered with outing flannel. One such column on each side 
of the platforms on which Pluto and Persephone are seated on 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


37 


one hand and the Judges on the other, with another pair of 
columns marking the entrance up center would be all that would 
be desirable. But even they are unnecessary, since the folds 
of the draped curtains will suggest columns. 

The first and second sets of curtains should be drawn back as 
far as possible without unmasking the edges of the curtains be¬ 
hind and the last set of curtains should be more nearly closed, 
leaving an exit to the garden. Through this exit is visible either 
a woodland or garden backdrop or a plain night sky. 

LIGHTS 

The lighting of the play depends again on the facilities of the 
stage on which it is produced, but the possibilities of even a limited 
switchboard can be increased by plugging in home-made bunch- 
lights provided with colored bulbs. Such a bunch fight can be 
constructed by nailing a cheap dishpan for a reflector to a rude 
standard and equipping it with a manifold socket that will take 
four bulbs or more. The stage as a whole is illuminated by a dim 
violet fight : alternate three blue and two red in the borders and 
three blue, one amber, and two red in the footlights ; the amber 
in the footlights to. illuminate better the faces of the speakers. 
A red shaft of fight from off left close to the proscenium strikes 
across the first set of curtains and falls upon the face of Pluto. 
For this fight a bullseye should be used if available, if not, a red 
bunchlight masked as much as possible so as not to strike too 
large a part of the scene. The fight on the garden outside is 
midnight blue and a concealed bullseye or bunchlight throws a 
shaft of midnight blue diagonally through the entrance up center, 
down the steps, and across the floor. When the Fates enter a 
blue spotlight is played on them. 

COSTUMES 

The scheme of costuming suggested below possibly requires 
some defence ; for, although the principal characters of the play 
are Trojan, Cretan, Carthaginian and mythological, respectively, 
the costumes suggested are a combination of the Greek and 


38 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


Roman. Although recent study of archaic Mediterranean civil¬ 
izations, particularly the Minoan, make an approach to historic 
accuracy possible, it is a question whether such accuracy would be 
desirable. All the persons of the play have been transmuted 
for us by classic Greek and Roman poets into myths, if not 
persons, of their time, and the students by whom and for whom 
the play is presented are interested, not in the archaic period, 
but in the Golden Age of Greece and the Golden Age of Rome. 
Certainly our scene, a Graeco-Roman Hades filled with the 
shades of the myths of many lands, is not the place to quibble 
about confusion of periods. Let us cut the Gordian knot of 
historic accuracy by saying that the inhabitants of Hades, an 
ecclectic aggregate, informed, no doubt, by recent arrivals of the 
latest style, have chosen to discard their native dress and to 
assume that of a later age and higher civilization. But we need 
not interpret this preference too strictly. We may permit such 
barbarisms, archaisms, and improprieties of dress as are common 
to every age, our own not excluded, and especially appropriate 
to the melting pot of the underworld. 

Since the effect of a set of costumes designed as a unit for a 
particular play is always better than the effept of a miscellaneous 
collection of costumes hired from a costumer, no matter how 
elaborate the hired costumes — usually the more elaborate the 
worse — it will be very much better to make costumes instead 
of renting them. Greek and Roman costumes can be made 
easily and inexpensively, another argument for their use. 

The simplest and most graceful Greek garment for the woman 
is the peplos or Doric dress — a rectangular piece of cloth, twice 
as broad as the span from wrist to wrist and one foot longer than 
the height of the wearer. It is put on by folding over the top 
part a distance equivalent to that from the waist to throat, 
wrapping it around the body, binding it about the waist with a 
girdle, pulling up the front and back over the shoulders, and 
fastening on the shoulders with brooches. A large bed-sheet 
makes a good impromptu peplos, but a better one can be made 
of unbleached cotton or cotton crepe, dyed to suit the purpose 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


39 


or stenciled with a border on one side at the bottom and on the 
other side at the top, the top being folded over and out. A 
Greek key design, a plain band of color, and parallel or zigzag 
lines of color make good borders. Cheap show-card colors, 
about twenty-five cents a jar, will do for the stenciling. Alumi¬ 
num and gilt paint will make a regal show on the peploi of Dido 
and Persephone. 

Barca and the Fates wear cloaks also, straight breadths of 
cloth about five feet long, dyed to match their costumes, drawn 
up over their heads, and falling over their shoulders. Dido and 
Persephone may also wear cloaks, hung from the shoulders, as 
richly stenciled as desired to emphasize the regal dress of the 
queens. 

Most of the men, including the men of the chorus, wear the 
Roman toga. It is a rectangular piece of cloth five or six yards 
long and a yard and a half or two yards wide. Strictly speaking 
the toga should be the segment of a circle, the chord of the arc 
about three times the height of the wearer and the height a little 
less than the height of the wearer, but this shape is more difficult 
to make and not more effective in appearance. The difficulty 
with the toga is not in the making but in the wearing. Worn 
loose, it tends to fall into ungraceful folds or to slip off. It 
should be adjusted and fastened into shape by draping about 
one-third of it over the left shoulder from back to front, carrying 
the rest across the back, under the right armpit, across the body, 
and back over the left shoulder so that about one-third of the 
toga hangs in front of the left shoulder and about one-third be¬ 
hind. Then the part under the right side should be drawn out 
so as to cover the right side, the folds should be adjusted to hang 
gracefully, and then the two thicknesses that pass over the left 
shoulder should each be tied securely with string just over the 
shoulder. Divided into three parts by these two ligatures, the 
toga can be readjusted and worn safely in a.variety of ways, to 
be indicated later when the separate costumes are discussed. 

Togas are best made of unbleached cotton, cotton crepe, 
cheesecloth, or outing flannel, but like the peploi can be impro- 


40 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


vised by sewing three sheets together at the ends. Outing 
flannel happens to come in a grey that will do for the togas of the 
chorus. Curtains, couch covers, in fact any large pieces of 
colored cloth available can be pressed into service as either peploi 
or togas. 

Ilioneus, Anchises, Pluto, and the Judges wear under their 
togas, long, sleeveless tunics, two breadths of cloth, girdled, 
sewed together at the sides and over one shoulder, and caught 
over the other with a hook or a brooch. 

The men of the chorus need wear nothing under the togas but 
sleeveless undervests and running pants. 

Aeneas and Achates wear short tunics coming not quite to the 
knees, under body armor. This armor can be made by painting 
with aluminum paint ordinary woolen undershirts, the kind with 
round throats and no buttons. 

The warriors also wear greaves and helmets, best hired from a 
costumer, but possible to make of cardboard painted with alumi¬ 
num paint. The helmets are decorated with crepe-paper plumes. 

All wear sandals over bare feet. Modern barefoot sandals 
can be used when available, but a sandal may be improvised 
from a thin leather or heavy cardboard sole and a yard of three- 
quarter-inch brown tape. Placing the foot on the sandal, measure 
the length of tape needed for a toe strap and sew it to the sandal. 
Then sew the rest of the tape by the middle to the heel of the 
sole. To put on the sandal, pass the toes under the toe-strap, 
bring the ends of the heel-strap up over the foot, cross them on 
top, pass them under the sole, cross them again over the foot 
and then wrap them round the ankle and tie. 

This completes the list of articles of costume. After a con¬ 
sideration of the color scheme, we shall be ready to look at each 
costume individually. 

Referring to the notes on scenery, the reader will observe that 
a neutral background is suggested. The chorus properly is 
part of this background and is therefore costumed in grey or grey- 
blue, a color appropriate to such shadowy persons. Pluto, 
Persephone, the Judges, and Dido, as well as some of the attend- 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


41 


ants stand out against the background in colorful robes, Dido’s 
somewhat less brilliant, as befits a shade. Anna, Ilioneus, An- 
chises, and Barca wear the sparkling white of the Elysian Fields. 
The armor of Achates and Aeneas makes them stand out suffi¬ 
ciently against the background. The Fates‘are shadowy figures 
in subdued colors, but they stand out in the light in which they 
play. 

Aeneas wears the armor described and tunic and toga of grey, 
edged with borders of gold. His plume is black. He wears one 
end of his toga over his left shoulder from back to front, the other 
wrapped round his right arm. Bracelets of sheet copper, thin 
strips bent to fit the arm. Helmet with black plume. 

Ilioneus is in plain white tunic and toga. He wears a white 
filet bound round his head. 

Anchises, in white, wears the back part of his toga drawn up 
over his head. The ends fall over his left shoulder front and 
back. His tunic is especially ample. Both tunic and toga have 
borders of gold. 

Achates wears the armor described and a grey tunic without 
border. No toga. His plume, like that of Aeneas, is black. 

Pluto wears a scarlet toga with a border of gold over a scarlet 
tunic. Gold or jeweled belt. Filet of gold. (Not a mediaeval 
crown.) 

The Judges wear the toga picta, purple and gold, over long 
black tunics embroidered with gold. Filets of gold. They carry 
parchment scrolls. 

Dido is in light grey peplos with a fine border of gold. Her 
cloak is of Tyrian purple ; her filet gold. 

Anna is in white and silver peplos. 

Barca is in celestial white as described above. 

Persephone wears a vivid blue toga over a black tunic edged 
with silver. She wears the loose end of her toga under her right 
arm and wrapped round her waist as a girdle. Filet of silver. 

Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos are in lavender, blue, and 
grey, respectively. All wear their cloaks drawn over their heads 


42 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 






































WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


43 





ANNA 




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c (> 

O i? 


PLUTO 


MINOS 


















































44 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 



TORCH-BEARER 




WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


45 


and shoulders. Clotho carries a distaff, Lachesis the thread, 
Atropos the end of the thread and a pair of shears. 

The Men of the Chorus wear grey togas, The Women grey 
peploi. Grey filets for all. Hair dusted with powder to make it 
grey. 

Note. The following characters are purely decorative. They 
would add to the effect of an elaborate performance but, with 
the possible exception of two guards and a scribe, may be omitted 
at will. 

The Scribes (three) attendant on the Judges are young men 
in long black tunics and togas. They carry styli and wax tablets. 

The Torchbearers wear short black tunics and scarlet 
girdles and filets. 

The Guards wear armor, possibly black (black enamel paint), 
over short black tunics edged with scarlet. 

The Eumenides are two girls with black flowing hair and 
black tunics. Their arms are wreathed with serpents. 

Night is a girl robed in dark blue spangled with stars. She 
wears a silver crescent bound on her brow with a silver filet. 
Her hair is black and unbound. 

Sleep is a girl in a grey tunic. She is covered from head to 
foot with a grey cheesecloth veil. 

Dreams are two beautiful young children, a girl and a boy, 
in short pale scarlet tunics and wreaths of flowers. They are 
barefoot. 

Death is a man in tunic and toga of black, the back part of 
his toga over his head. 

Two Boy Slaves, one in scarlet tunic edged with gold, the 
other in blue edged with silver. They carry, respectively, the 
helmet of the Cyclops and the crown of Persephone. 

MAKEUP 

The method of makeup and the amount of it will vary with 
circumstances of performance and the individual makeup will 
vary with different interpretations of the parts, but some hints 


46 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


about the process of makeup in general and some suggestions 
about individual makeup in particular may, nevertheless, be 
serviceable. 

Makeups are of two kinds : straight and character. Straight 
makeup is used merely to accentuate the lines and color of feat¬ 
ures so that they will not seem pale and vague in a brilliant light 
and seen from a distance. Straight makeups merely emphasize 
the ordinary appearance of the actor without altering the char¬ 
acter of his features. Character makeups, though they too em¬ 
phasize features and color, are primarily intended to disguise 
the actor and give his features an entirely different appearance. 

The amount of makeup required increases directly with the 
size of the hall. In the class room or school auditorium of 
moderate size, straight makeup may be dispensed with, except 
perhaps for a touch of dry rouge on the cheeks, moist rouge on 
the lips, and a very light emphasis of the outline of the eyes and 
eyebrows. On the contrary, character makeups, though they 
may be lighter in a small room, must be applied with more deli¬ 
cacy and care. Especially is this true if the play is produced 
in daylight, instead of artificial light. 

Makeup consists of cold cream, flesh sticks, lining pencils, 
dry rouge, moist rouge or lip sticks, and powder. For its applica¬ 
tion and removal cheesecloth, powder puffs and an orangewood 
stick are necessary. (Wads of absorbent cotton make a good 
substitute for puffs.) 

Before applying makeup, cold cream should be rubbed into 
the skin and then wiped off as much as possible with cheesecloth. 
Then the flesh tint is applied all over the face, ears, and such 
parts of the neck as are exposed by the costume. The flesh tint 
should be rubbed even with the fingers. Then fines and hollows 
in the face are emphasized with the fining pencils, or fine fines 
with the orangewood stick rubbed in paint. The lines about 
the eyelashes should be put on last of all because they smudge 
easily until they are powdered. After the fining, the entire 
makeup is powdered heavily with a powder of the tint of the 
flesh paint used and the powder is smoothed with a puff, super- 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


47 


fluous powder being dusted off. To obtain a smooth makeup 
two things are essential : that the face should not be too greasy 
when paint is applied, and that plenty of powder is used. The 
surest way of smudging a makeup is to use too little powder or 
too much cold cream. Finally dry rouge is used to touch up 
the makeup and is blended with more powder and some of the 
lines are re-emphasized if necessary with the orangewood stick. 
If false hair is to be worn, the part of the face to be covered by 
the beard or moustache is cleansed of makeup with a little cold 
cream, wiped dry with cheese cloth, and then painted with spirit 
gum. The hair is then applied and held in position until the 
spirit gum is dry, when the beard or moustache can be brushed 
or trimmed as if it had grown on the face. The wig is put on 
after the makeup is complete. 

After the performance the makeup is softened by rubbing 
cold cream into it, so that the mixture of cream and paint can 
be wiped off with cheesecloth. Spirit gum can be washed off 
best with alcohol. 

Beards and moustaches made of crepe hair are better than 
ready-made ones. The crepe hair, obtainable from any dealer 
in makeup, comes in braids of all colors. The braids are very 
tight and contain much more hair than they appear to, so that 
a few inches of braid go a long way. The braids are to be pulled 
out and the beard or moustache built up on the face bit by bit, 
applied with spirit gum, and finally brushed, trimmed, and 
shaped. 

For the straight makeups all that is required is flesh paint — 
a shade darker for the men than for the women ; lip stick ; dark 
and light brown fining pencils ; powder of the same tint as the 
flesh paint; and dry rouge. Of the speaking characters in 
“When the Fates Decree,” Aeneas, Achates, Dido, Anna, Proser¬ 
pine, and possibly the chorus of shades, wear straight makeup. 
Of the decorative and allegorical characters, Night, the Scribes, 
the Torchbearers, the Guards, Dreams, Sleep, and the Pages, 
also wear straight makeup. Of all these Dido, Anna, and Proser¬ 
pine wear the lightest makeup ; the guards and pages the dark- 


48 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


est, and the others something between the two. None of these 
characters need any makeup at all if the play is given in a small 
room. 

In rouging the lips, follow the natural shape of the lips care¬ 
fully. To make a small mouth look large, draw out slightly the 
lines at the corners of the mouth with a dark red lining pencil 
and carry the rouge well into the corners of the mouth. To 
make a large mouth look small, keep the rouge within the normal 
lines of the lips and do not carry it into the corners. Emphasize 
the nostrils by a touch of rouge just within each. A tiny dot 
of rouge at the inner corner of the eye brightens it. Light grey 
grease paint on the eyelid gives the effect of the natural shadow 
cast by normal light from above. Footlights kill this natural 
shadow. The art of loading the eyelashes with melted paint is 
difficult, unnecessary, and not very effective. A fine black or 
brown line drawn close to each line of eyelashes and prolonged at 
the corner of the eye is easier than loading and just as effective. 
The eyes should be powdered at once after these lines are drawn 
in order to prevent smudging when the eyes are opened and 
closed. After the face is powdered as described above dry 
rouge should be applied high along the cheekbone under the eyes 
and following the line of the jaw to the point of the chin, blended 
delicately from the cheek bone and the jaw bone into the cheek 
and further blended with powder. The art of using dry rouge 
is to place it as indicated and to blend it carefully. The amateur 
is likely to produce a grotesque effect by applying rouge to the 
center of the cheek. 

Aside from the choice of appropriately tinted powders and 
paints, the chief difference between character and straight makeup 
is in the modeling of the face by the use of flesh tints of different 
tones and in the placing of fines. The principle of this modeling 
is that paint of a fighter tint than the foundation makes the part 
of the face to which it is applied stand out; darker tints produce 
wrinkles and hollows. With blond or sallow foundation use 
fight and dark grey for hollows and wrinkles ; with olive founda¬ 
tion use dark olive or brown. Lines and hollows should be 




WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


49 


placed not arbitrarily but in reference to the natural formation 
of the face. Grey placed in the hollows of the cheeks, the 
temples, the eyes, or the chin should follow carefully the natural 
conformation of the face and should be carefully blended at the 
edges. To place wrinkles, screw up the face to see where the 
wrinkles naturally come and place the lines accordingly. Hori¬ 
zontal wrinkles are produced by drawing a dark line with a light 
one under it; vertical wrinkles, by a dark line with a light one 
on each side of it. To sharpen the features or make a face that 
is rotund more crisp in outline draw lines down the nose and 
along the edge of the jaw bones and touch the cheek bones with 
light paint. 

There follows a list of the persons of the play that require 
character makeup with some indications about the makeup of each. 

Ilioneus, old man with grey hair and grey full beard. 

Anchises, similar to Ilioneus but older with white hair and 
beard. 

Pluto, dark olive complexion ; black hair and beard ; severe 
and unpleasant expression. The head of a satyr from an Attic 
red vase might serve as a model. 

The Judges, venerable grey-beards. Individualize the make¬ 
up as much as possible by differences in complexion, cut of 
beard, color of brow. 

Barca, very old, wrinkled, and white haired. 

Clotho, a very old woman, but bright eyed and vigorous. 

Lachesis, an old woman with small, shrewd eyes, and a thin, 
precise mouth. 

Atropos, a sinister old woman with black brows knit and an 
expression that varies from cruel severity, through cold inflex¬ 
ibility, to a perverse smile of half pleasure. 

Chorus, either a grey, featureless makeup that will make 
them completely unreal, no makeup, or pale straight makeup. 
The grey makeup is fantastic but will subdue the chorus best 
to the mood of the play. 

Eumenides, colorless faces, large dark eyes, frowning brows, 
very red lips. 


50 


WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


Sleep, veiled ; therefore no makeup required. 

Death. The head of a skull. All the hollows of the skull 
brought out with very dark grey ; the bottom part of the nose 
obliterated with dark grey. The lips white and divided to repre¬ 
sent teeth. The high parts of the skull brought out in a cream- 
colored paint. 

The straight makeups will vary slightly with the character 
represented. Detailed comment on each is scarcely necessary. 

WIGS 

Wigs for those members of the cast who need them are best 
rented, but wigs can be improvised for a few cents with crepe 
hair sewed to skull caps. Cotton batting instead of crepe hair 
is effective for white wigs. 

PROPERTIES 

Boys with a taste for carpentry or shop work, given a picture 
from a text book or an encyclopaedia to copy and some indication 
of materials such as wood, tin boxes, cardboard, and metallic 
paint, can do wonders with the manufacture of properties. The 
chief properties are listed below with a suggestion of materials. 

Sword and scabbard for Aeneas : wood, metallic paint, old 
leather (to bind scabbard). 

Staff for Anchises : a knotty sapling. 

Two spears for Achates : mop handles with heads cut from 
tin cracker boxes. 

Shield for Achates : a barrel top painted brown to represent 
leather, with a boss and studs of aluminum paint, or painted 
with aluminum paint and having a device in black. It is fas¬ 
tened over the left arm by two straps nailed to the wood. 

Helmets : see general notes on costume above. 

Jeweled belt for Pluto : see end of list. 

Stili for scribes : whittled from wood, painted with aluminum. 

Tablets : each two pieces of wood about four inches by eight. 
Two small holes drilled through on each edge with string 
passed through to fasten them together at the back like a book 
and to tie them shut at the other edge. The inner surfaces are 




WHEN THE FATES DECREE 


51 


chiseled out to the depth of a quarter of an inch and filled with 
melted parafine. 

Distaff and yarn for the Fates : bunch of cotton wool on a 
slight stick with a long thread of worsted fastened to the tip of 
the stick and wool. 

Sceptres for Pluto and Persephone : turned wood, metallic 
paint, or ornamental balls from the ends of curtain rods mounted 
on lengths of broomstick and painted gilt and silver, respectively. 

Scrolls for the Judges : wrapping paper wound on thin rods 
about a foot long with small knobs at each end. 

Staff for Barca : see Anchises. Something fighter for Barca. 

Torches : flashlights mounted on the ends of sticks ; sticks 
and fights wrapped with brown paper or cloth; puffy bags of 
red silk over the fights to catch the glow. 

Arms for the guards : see Aeneas and Achates. 

Serpents for the Eumenides : long tubes of green silk with 
backbones of heavy insulated copper wire, stuffed with cotton. 

Garlands for the Dreams : tissue and crepe paper. 

Helmets, including the helmet of the Cyclops : cardboard, 
metallic paint, glue, heavy thread, crepe paper. See Greek vase 
paintings for designs. 

Crown of Persephone : see helmets for materials, pictures of 
Cybele for design. 

Scarlet pillow for the helmet of the Cyclops : same material 
as Pluto’s costume. 

Blue pillow for Persephone’s crown : same material as Perse¬ 
phone’s costume. 

Jewels for royal persons : cardboard, metallic paint, glass beads. 

I have tried to make these suggestions on organization, music, 
dancing, scenery, fights, costumes, makeup, and properties as 
helpful as possible and I have also tried by a revision of the stage 
directions to make the text as convenient as possible. At the 
same time I realize that the widest use of the play may be as a 
reading text. For collateral reading, I believe the play may 
best be used in a dramatic way, different pupils reading different 
parts and possibly acting out the play to some extent as they 
read, the balance of the class acting as chorus. 











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